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Jeb Stuart Jr.
|religion = |birth = |death = Unrevealed |occupation = Soldier |family = Unnamed brother |parents = Jeb Stuart, Flora Cooke Stuart ( ) |children = Jeb Stuart III ( ) |military branch = Confederate States Army ( , ) |type of appearance = Direct}}Jeb Stuart Jr. (b. 1864Inconsistencies in Turtledove's Work#Inconsistencies in Southern Victory) was a Confederate officer. He was the son of Jeb Stuart. Stuart first came to prominence at age of 17 as a lieutenant of infantry in Thomas Jackson's Army of Kentucky at the Siege of Louisville in the Second Mexican War. When the US Army of the Ohio under the command of General Orlando Willcox invaded Kentucky at Louisville, Stuart and his company distinguished themselves under fire when they held and repulsed Wilcox's flanking move. In the middle of the fighting, Stuart saved his company when its commander was wounded, and became a war hero just like his father, who was serving on the Mexican border. Right after the battle, Stuart personally met the Confederate Army's General-in-Chief, Jackson, who he had known his entire childhood. For the next three decades, Jeb Stuart Jr. rapidly advanced through the ranks, to a prominent role at the War Department by virtue of his glory in 1881 and through the magic of his family's name, which counted for as much as merit did (and probably more) in the caste-world of the Confederacy. When the Great War began in 1914, Stuart was still a prominent officer in the War Department. He unleashed the Army of Northern Virginia north through Washington DC, and southern Maryland in a move aimed at capturing Philadelphia, the de-facto capital of the United States. In 1915, as the Army of Northern Virginia stood on the Susquehanna River, disturbing reports filtered from the front to the War Department of a nature that suggested a grave danger to the safety of the entire CSA. Many cells of Marxist black laborers had been uncovered in the various armies. One such cell included Pompey, the manservant of Stuart's son, Captain Jeb Stuart III of Battery C, First Richmond Howitzers. The accusation there had been made by one of Stuart's sergeants in Battery C, Jake Featherston, and passed on to the top by a major from Intelligence named Clarence Potter. Jeb Stuart Jr. didn't wish to upset his son by having the manservant, Pompey, taken away for detention. He ordered the affair hushed up, not believing that Pompey was even capable of plotting rebellion or anything seditious. When the Red Rebellion of 1915-16 broke out in autumn of 1915, Pompey disappeared with the other rebels. Jeb Stuart III was now under a cloud, and when Pompey was captured and brought back to the captain for confirmation of identity, any chances of his being promoted went down the drain. Jeb Stuart III died in combat not long after the affair, recklessly attacking the enemy with the intent of being killed. Jeb Stuart Jr. punished Sergeant Featherston and Major Potter for their parts in the controversy by blocking their promotions. Potter got over his situation; Featherston was enraged, and began his quest for revenge. After the war (which saw the Confederacy's defeat in the middle of 1917) Featherston joined a new political party called the Freedom Party. Within a matter of months, he was the head of the party, and a popular political figure. After the Confederacy's defeat, Stuart remained part of the War Department. Though often singled out by Featherston as the example of the nepotism and conservatism which had crippled the CS Army during the war, Stuart remained silent until 1923. When President Wade Hampton V's assassination seemed sure to consign the Freedom Party to the dustbin of history, Stuart personally met with Featherston for the first time.Blood and Iron, pg. 590. He quietly but smugly informed Featherston that he had come to say goodbye, as he believed that the Freedom Party would no longer be a force in Confederate politics.Ibid., pg 591. He did admit that he deeply regretted his actions that allowed the Red Rebellion to occur. He believed that the death of his son was a result of his mistake. He also admitted that blocking Featherston's promotion was a mistake as well.Ibid. 592. Stuart's confidence proved misplaced. Featherston did recover from the 1923 debacle, and eleven years later was sworn in as the Confederacy's President. Despite promises he made prior to his election, Featherston walked softly around the army for the first two years of his presidency. But in the aftermath of a failed assassination attempt at the 1936 Olympics, Featherston's popularity was such that he felt the time had come to shake up the CS Army's leadership. He called Stuart into his office and gloatingly reminded him of their 1923 meeting before asking for Stuart's resignation.The Victorious Opposition, pg. 184. The icy civility of both men swiftly gave way to abuse; when Stuart refused, demanded a court-martial, and went so far as to label Featherston "white trash", the enraged president threatened to charge Stuart with treason for his part in facilitating the Red Rebellion, as well as exposing his son's involvement with protecting the Marxist Pompey.Ibid., pg. 185. A shaken Stuart promptly resigned. Shortly afterward, news of the Pompey Affair went out over the Confederate wireless and cinema.Ibid., pg. 189. Literary Comment Stuart Jr.'s final fate is never revealed. It was previously assumed that this character was the historical figure James Ewell Brown Stuart, Jr. (1860-1930). However, the Southern Victory character is specifically stated to have been born in 1864. This is puzzling, as the series' 1862 Point of Divergence should not have affected his birth. Harry Turtledove has never addressed whether this was a mistake or a deliberate decision. In light of this ambiguity, the wiki administrators have decided to reclassify this character as fictional. References Category:Generals Category:Inconsistencies